Fear of the Dark
by EmiTheStrangeXX0
Summary: Oneshot! When Andrew finally can't take anymore of Serena and Darien's fightening he locks them in the closet until they can learn to get along. But Serena's extreme fear of the dakr pushes them a lot closer than intended.


Hello everyone! I really liked the way my last one-shot fanfiction turned out so I decided to write another one this might turn into a fanfiction, but I'm not sure if it will yet. I have some ideas, but I can't really afford to be writing another fanfiction at this time, but I hope you guys enjoy this one-shot!

I don't own Sailor Moon.

**Chapter 1: Fear of the Dark**

"You prick!" Serena yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Klutzy blonde!" Darien yelled back just as loudly. Though they were standing toe to toe with each other and Darien was a good head taller than her she stood before him un-intimidated and undaunted.

Serena wasn't one to fall into denial, so she could readily admit that the six foot, two college student standing in front of her was beyond normally attractive. However his infuriating persistence in teasing her managed to keep her hating him for very long periods of time. Even though her fingers itched still to run through the thick black hair atop his head she keep a strangle hold on her betraying emotions, she would not give into him!

Their arguments had become a daily part of her life, and as much as she hated him for the accursed nickname he'd set upon her she treasured it as well. It was an extremely complicated relation over a name as stupid as 'Meatball Head'. Serena couldn't help but fell it separated her from all the other girls in his life. The fact that he used it to taunt her endlessly is why she hated it so much.

"OH! Can't you just leave me alone for one day!" Serena yelled venting her frustration and contrasting emotions into their present argument.

"Ditto here Meatball Head, I haven't gone a single day without you running into me, or you throwing something into me face. Tit-for-tat." He said leaning forward and flicking her on the nose. There was certain stillness about Serena immediately letting him know that he'd gone much too far. He couldn't help that she looked adorable when she was angry. Ok maybe flicking her hadn't been the best idea in the world, and from the rising redness in her face told Darien that Mount Serena was about to explode.

"You arrogant jerk!" she screeched launching herself at him unexpectedly. She tackled him with surprising force; he didn't realize she'd managed to get him on the ground until his back hit the floor. Luckily he didn't have to find out what Serna would've done to him. Hands seized the now hissing and spitting Serena atop of him and lifted her away. Darien breathed a sigh of relief as Andrew moved Serena a relative safe distance away from him.

"Calm down Serena," Andrew said trying to hold her back.

"He flicked me in the face, that is unforgivable!" she said trying to get free.

"You act like such a two-year-old sometimes Meatball Head," Darien mumbled brushing the dirt off his pants.

"Darien you're not helping," Andrew said giving him a deadly glare as Serena only began to struggle even harder to get free. Darien secretly breath a sigh of relief as Andrew persuaded her to calm down with a large chocolate milkshake, if it had been anyone else that had pulled Serena off him Darien wouldn't have been so candid. While he loved to tease his Meatball head to death, he felt a strange possessiveness over her that shocked the hell out of him. The bubbly, blonde high school student had somehow captured some irrevocable feelings inside of him, and he couldn't stand to see her with someone else. He had absolutely no claim on her what-so-ever, it was the strangest thing, and he couldn't begin to explain it.

"Lay off Darien, you'll only make things worse," Andrew said wiping down the counter. Serena was now sitting at the other end of it contently sipping at a milkshake.

"Don't worry Andrew it's obvious that one of the only things Serena has on her mind is food," Darien said by accident a little too loudly.

Serena was already on her feet again moving towards him with murderous intentions, but Andrew caught Darien by the back of his shirt and Serena.

"Andrew what the hell!" Darien said as he led Serena and Darien towards the back room. He shoved both of them unceremoniously into one of the back closets.

"You two are not coming out of here until you learn how to get along," was all he said before he closed the door in their faces.

"Andrew wait, come back!" Serena wailed banging against the door. "This is all your fault!" she said turning to Darien, jabbing an accusing finger at his chest.

"My fault? Who's the one who can't seem to control her temper," he taunted back.

"Oh, you infuriating bastar-"

"Now, now Meatball Head where did you learn language like that, you're much too young to be using it."

"I'll use whatever language I want!" Serena yelled at him. Andrew who was still listening to them yell at each other on the other side of the door sighed and flipped the light switch plunging them into darkness.

Serena let out a scream and took a step back causing her to trip over a multitude of boxes. Darien heard the muffled thud on the floor, wondering how far Serena's un-coordination could go. He heard her scrambling around on the floor and a muffled whimper; he frowned.

The closet was not very big, but it being filled with random boxes made it all the much smaller. Serena couldn't have gotten far; the Meatball Head had probably hurt herself falling down and would begin wailing about it any second now. It was pitch black in the closet, Darien couldn't see a thing.

Darien closed his eyes with his hands over his ears, waiting for the ungodly wailing to start, but it never came. He heard her shifting around somewhere, but he heard another whimper accompany her movements. Had she hurt herself and didn't want to tell him? When he heard another whimpered his frown deepened, he knew that she didn't like him, but hiding the fact that she might be hurt from him was a little extreme.

"Serena?" he asked into the darkness. He got know answer, so he began to move slowly in the direction that she had fallen. He felt the broken boxes from her fall and was looking around her when he tripped over something. He turned around looking to see what it was, he knelt down and reached out his hands and caught onto a piece of long familiar hair. The first time he'd touched Serena's hair was when she'd fallen asleep on the arcade counter next to him, he had been unable to resist and had stroked her hair to his heart's content before she'd woken up. It was a certain silky texture he would never forget, and he knew what he'd stumbled over had been Serena. From what he could tell she was curled up in a little ball, unmoving.

"What are you doing down here Meatball Head?" he asked laying a hand on her shoulder. She was trembling.

"What's wrong Serena? Did you get hurt?" he asked with urgency in his voice he chose to ignore. Her trembling had only worsened and she shook her head, trying to scoot away form him, but he would have none of that.

"What is it Serena?" he persisted.

"J-Just go away Darien," she insisted trying to push him away. Darien couldn't ignore that her voice had gone thick with tears, was she crying? Why? There was nothing in the closet, or had it been the idea of being locked up with him that had made her cry. The only thing he could see was pitch blackness in the small closet, maybe that was it.

"Serena are you afraid of the dark?" he asked.

After a few moments Serena gave a tight nod and let more tears flow down her face. "G-Go ahead, m-make fun of me Darien, god knows it's the perfect MO," she said sobbing openly now. Darien was sure for a second maybe she was just overreacting, but her sobs seemed to sad and heart wrenching, it was such a childish thing to be afraid of, but who was he to decide what people could and could not be afraid of.

Instead he did what he had longed to do or a long time, and wrapped his arms around her bringing her close to him. Her soft gasp told him that she'd not been expecting it, but her hand latched into his jacket in a desperate grip and she buried her face in his chest.

"Shhh, it's alright Serena," he said softly rubbing her back in soothing strokes. Her sobs were tearing him up inside, it felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest. She only seemed to be getting more and more upset, he needed to get her out of here.

Serena couldn't surpass her long child-hood fear. The darkness seemed to be enclosing in around her, the walls were pressing against her, suffocating her, killing her. There was no way out, there never was, Darien's presence was more comforting than she was going to admit, but she needed to get out. She would go crazy in here for sure, she couldn't stay in here.

"D-Darien, g-get them to let us out," Serena said curling back up into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible. Darien stood and felt around for the door until his hand encountered the handle. He knew it was locked but he tried it anyway for good measure. He lifted his hand and pounded on the door, making it rattle.

"ANDREW!" he yelled, but Darien was sure his best friend had moved on by now. He probably wouldn't be coming back to check on them for a while, but he wasn't about to tell Serena that. He tried again and again to call for Andrew but no one answered. Serena's sobs in the back round were becoming more prominent; he had no other ideas to enact.

"O-oh god, w-we can't get out! We're stuck in here!" she sobbed, Darien returned to her side almost immediately.

"It's going to be ok, we just have to wait for Andrew to come back," he said softly. Darien shrugged off his green jacket and wrapped it around Serena then hauled her onto his lap. She didn't seem to notice the change of position, so Darien wrapped his arms around her bringing her close. He rocked her gently back and forth trying to bring her at least a measure of comfort. Another idea suddenly occurred to him, that might help Serena a little.

Darien began to shift through his pockets wondering if he had some kind of light that he could give to Serena. He wasn't even sure if he carried anything like that with him, but he had to check. He searched the pockets of his jacket and his hand pulled out a golden star locket-watch. Darien had totally forgotten he had it, but it would definitely help Serena.

"Here Serena, take this," he said easing the locket into her hands. She opened her eyes trying to see what it was he had given her. Darien reached around her and opened the lid to the watch; a soft glow was emitted from it, along with the soft notes of a song. Serna's eyes widened and she stared enraptured by the light not letting her eyes stray from it. Maybe if she could just concentrate on the light she could forget about the closing darkness around her.

Darien continued to rock Serena gently back and forth humming along with the song. He heard Serena emit a soft sigh; her hands gripped the locket tightly. She was worn out, she wanted to go home and lie in her room. The light from the locket made her feel stronger, and Darien's presence was comforting in a way she'd never experienced before. Serena closed her eyes and tried not to think past the glow of the locket, and the circle of Darien's arms.

When Andrew finally unlocked and opened the door to the closet, he felt his jaw drop open. Serena was sitting on Darien's lap wrapped in his jacket sound asleep. Darien looked up and blinked at the invasion of new light, then fixed Andrew with a glare that let Andrew know he was in serious trouble.

Without a word to his best friend Darien stood with Serena in his arms and carried her out and the closet and set her down on the nearby couch. He stood up and caught Andrew by the back of his shirt much like he'd done earlier to Darien and he lead him out of the room.

Once they were clear of it Darien whirled to face his friend glaring daggers at him, and he erupted.

"What the hell did you think you were doing!" Darien yelled not bothering to control the volume or anger in his voice. Serena cowering in a little ball crying her heart out had been more than Darien could bear. He never wanted to see her like that again, looking so vulnerable and lost.

"Whoa man, I just wanted to two to calm down," Andrew said holding up his hands as if to ward Darien off.

"Calm down! Andrew Serena is afraid of dark enclosed spaces!" Darien yelled. He saw the color drain from Andrew's face and his friend had realized what he had done.

"Shit! IU forgot about that, is she ok?" he said hastily with worry in his eyes. Darien knew Andrew would never intentionally hurt Serena and felt the anger drain from him. Now he just felt tired, and he wanted to make sure Serena was alright.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, luckily I got her to fall asleep while we were in there." Darien ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. "I'm going to wake her up and take her home."

"Please Darien felt me apologize first, I totally forgot that Serena was afraid of dark small places." Andrew said wringing his hands. Darien gave his friend a faint smile and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I know Andrew I'm sure Serena will forgive you, let me go wake her up," Darien said walking back into the back room. To his surprise Serena was already awake, sitting on the couch and staring blankly out the window. Darien proceeded with caution wondering how she would react.

"Are you feeling ok Serena?" he asked walking over to her.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said in a small voice. Darien wasn't entirely convinced and sat down on the couch next to her.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked knowing it was none of his business, but he hoped Serena would open up to him anyway; for some reason it was important to him that she trusted him.

"I was only five when I went to our first family reunion; I had a lot of older boy cousins who loved to play pranks on me. One day they while none of the parents were around the locked me in an old trunk. It was really dark and the trunk wasn't all that big either. I screamed and screamed for them to let me out, but they would only laugh and run away. I was stuck inside that trunk for a total of 12 hours and 45 minuets. All the parents thought I was just hiding somewhere, but by the time they found me I was so upset they had to subdue me so I wouldn't hurt myself," Serena ended with a sad sigh. "Ever since I've been unbearably afraid of dark and small places, it just reminded me of how long I was stuck in that trunk."

Darien felt a rage build in him with such startling force he had to suppress and angry growl that would've escaped his mouth. He felt like wringing her cousin's scrawny necks, who could possibly even think of doing that to a girl? He quelled his stormy expression when Serena turned back to him.

"Thank you for being there for me Darien," she said softly not really meeting his eyes. Darien felt a smile creep over his face; he took Serena's hand in his and pulled her to her feet. He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and heard her sighed softly.

"C'mon, I'll take you home."


End file.
